MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban-Mexican pianist Margot Rojas is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of the Cuban piano. Born on March 24, 1903 in Veracruz, Mexico, to a Cuban mother and a Mexican father, she began her musical studies at the age of five under the tutelage of her aunt Consuelo Mendoza. Once in Cuba, she became a distinguished student of the Dutch pianist, composer and educator Hubert de Blanck, graduating in 1916.
In 1919, Margot traveled to New York and received classes from Alexander Lambert, a student of Franz Liszt and pianist accompanist of the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. During her stay in the Big Apple, she performed at Steinway Hall and, back in Cuba, she gave recitals in Mexico at the Wagner Hall and at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
In a 1987 interview for the magazine ClueMargot shared that her first big impression in Cuba was listening to Ernesto Lecuona and Dulce María Serret in 1913. He also mentioned that the most representative institutions in Cuba at that time were the Hubert de Blanck and Alfredo Peyrellade conservatories.
During the 1920s, Margot had an active life as a soloist: she performed in Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey, was the first soloist of the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra with Chopin’s Concerto No.1, and premiered in Cuba the Second Concerto for Rachmaninov piano and orchestra with the Havana Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gonzalo Roig, in 1930.
During the Machadato period, she was forced to return to Mexico due to her progressive manifestations. There she offered recitals at the Conservatory and at the Institute of Fine Arts. Once the tyranny of Gerardo Machado was overthrown, she returned to Cuba and ventured into piano pedagogy at the International Conservatory founded by María Jones de Castro. Subsequently, she worked at the Hubert de Blanck Conservatory and at Phillips College.
In 1957, Rojas made her last performance as a performer, but after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, she was appointed Head of the Piano Chair at the “Amadeo Roldán” Conservatory and invited to teach at the National School of Art.
As a result of his teaching, prominent names in Cuban music emerged such as Frank Fernández, Jorge Luis Prats, Ileana Bautista, Roberto Urbay, Cesar López and Elvira Santiago, among other notable musicians who were his students. This list also includes the names of Lucía Huergo, Carlos Malcolm, Carmen Collado and María Felicia Pérez.
Margot passed away in Havana on March 29, 1996.
